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Smartphones are Changing Holiday Shopping and the Black Friday as we Know It

November 10th, 2011 | Posted by admin in business process | Facebook | marketing | mobility | News | smartphone | social media | Twitter - (0 Comments)

Ubiquitous smartphones are making everyone a smart-shopper this holiday season. In “Mobile Devices Changing the Habits of Holiday Shoppers,” Shopper Sciences, a retail marketing firm, recently found that 42 percent of holiday shoppers will research products before purchasing and 34 percent will be reducing their physical visits to stores as online and mobile technologies make shopping from home – or anywhere for that matter – a snap. BusinessNewsDaily reports further on the findings:

“Shopper Sciences’ 2011 Holiday Shopping Survey found that 48 percent of consumers consider their smartphone a vital tool which they plan to use during this holiday season. The company estimates that the use of retail apps that can help consumers compare prices, find coupons and even pay digitally is up 300 percent from last year.”

So what does it mean for retailers? Consumers’ use of social media and mobile devices gives retailers a channel to offer bargains straight to their Facebook followers, push deals through sites like Groupon or Living Social, text-message exclusive offers, and utilize flash sales.

Despite the poor economy, American shoppers are sure to find a way to create the holiday experience – But now it’s a new game with more mobile product research and deal hunting and less waiting in early morning lines for the hottest product.

Philip West

November 10, 2011

Selling With Social Media Relies on Strategy and Evaluation

November 8th, 2011 | Posted by admin in branding | marketing | News | social media - (0 Comments)

In Social Media Examiner’s 4 Steps to Selling With Social Media the author tries to demystify social media in light of growing sales.

The insistence that  tracking   return on investment for social media requires attraction, conversion, retention and measurement.  As with most things this easy to say and harder to do.

The article attempts to provide a road map to accomplishing these four steps. It is interesting to note that many of the steps outlined for each step are the same steps that are needed in person-to-person interactions – strategy, consistency, offer value to convert into buyers.

It is interesting to note that the author claims that social media is in its infancy.  I think it is actually struggling through its teenage years but I do agree with the article’s assertions about the focus needed to succeed.

So rather than focusing myopically on flavor-of-the-month tactics, make sure that all of your social media campaigns include the formula of attraction, retention, conversion and measurement, and you will have a sustainable plan for success.

Constance Ard November 8, 2011

 

Unstructured Data Not the Villain of Social Media

November 2nd, 2011 | Posted by admin in Knowledge management | marketing | News | social media - (0 Comments)

Social media can be a beautiful tool for bringing the masses together to share information and form ideas together. It’s no wonder that corporations have jumped onboard the social media train in an effort to harvest ideas. Unfortunately the corporate approach to social media, a.k.a knowledge management, does not work that well. The article, Social Media Versus Knowledge Management, on Harvard Business Review explains how the corporate mind bastardized a beautiful thing.

Used throughout the article is the analogy of knowledge as water. According to the authors both should flow freely and nature be allowed to gather it where it may. Anyone having ever worked in management knows that such nonsense is meaningless and structure must be invoked to see results. Hence, knowledge management (KM) was born.

As with any good idea, when left to a chain of command to produce, the ball gets dropped. The article explains,

“KM communities imply a hierarchical view of knowledge and are often assigned by job classification or encouraged based on work duties. Participation becomes prescribed, creating the type of “mandatory fun” that is the butt of many a Dilbert cartoon and TV sitcom. Social media allows communities to emerge as a property of the purpose and the participation in using the tools. This lack of structure creates the space for active and innovative communities.”

While the authors are correct in their analysis what is left of such innovative communities is unstructured data, the bane of many a top-level manager. By utilizing real-time decision making technology unstructured data can become a powerful tool. Instead of looking at social media and KM as structured and unstructured data (i.e. good and bad data) companies should be looking at how the two can be married sky-rocketing their business agility.

Catherine Lamsfuss, November 2, 2011

Should Your Business Take a Tumbl?

October 26th, 2011 | Posted by admin in Facebook | marketing | News | social media | Twitter - (0 Comments)

Is Tumblr the next big thing for business in the social media realm? SocialMedia Examiner considers the issue in “Should You Be On Tumblr? Seven Business Case Examples.”

Fans love Tumblr for its ease of use and clean style. Growing quickly, its social sharing capacities rival those of Twitter and Facebook. However, writer Jim Lodico is quick to mention that Tumblr isn’t a panacea:

“Tumblr is not for everyone. The audience tends to be younger, so short, highly visual blog posts tend to do much better than text-intensive posts. If you have trouble obtaining quality photographs and video, Tumblr may not be for you.

“However, the quick setup and simplicity of Tumblr may make it a good choice for those who want to get a blog up and running right now. There is very little learning curve and although it doesn’t have the power of WordPress, it’s also much easier to use.”

The article examines the Tumblr projects of seven businesses, from Huggies diapers to Newsweek Magazine. The profiles are intriguing; check out these cases to decide whether your business is a fit for the Tumblr model. We think the right businesses could benefit.

Cynthia Murrell

October 26, 2011

Mobile Certification Requirements on the Rise, Even As Employment Prospects Post Graduation Continue to Fall

October 19th, 2011 | Posted by admin in jobs | marketing | mobility | News | smartphone - (0 Comments)

As the mobile tech market continues to expand, so too does the need to fill fresh positions with qualified individuals. The most recent addition to the growing call for certification is featured in a press release covered on SFGate.com in a piece titled “Demand for Certification in Mobile Development Growing for Both Employers and Programmers“.

The development house On The GoWare, who have concentrated their attentions on the commercial side of the mobile tracks, have designed a new program which focuses on the most popular operating systems. The company’s internal school, the Mobile Development Institute, awards the title of MDICD (Mobile Development Institute Certified Developer) upon completion of courses. MDI:

“…offers certification programs in … : Apple iOS (iPhone and iPad), Google Android, and RIM BlackBerry. Their programs are designed to teach someone the beginning to end, even if they have no programming experience at all, By the time a student has successfully completed the training, they have designed, programmed, tested, and published a finished app into the market.”

As the release notes, and no doubt many recent university graduates have discovered for themselves, the ability to work within these specific systems is extremely attractive to the array of companies which populate this burgeoning area of software development. Considering the current economic climate and the fact that student loan debt is reported to have eclipsed the combined credit debt of U.S. citizens, programs like these offer a much needed option for both parties. Individuals seeking training receive it from seasoned professionals at an affordable rate, while employers know their selections are among the most qualified. News to both consider and track in this period of uncertainty.

Micheal Cory

October 19, 2011

Using Technology and Social Media to Build the Concept of Team

October 13th, 2011 | Posted by admin in jobs | marketing | mobility | News | social media - (0 Comments)

Technology and Social Media don’t have to be either just about work or just about play. One of the beauties of having technology at work with access to social media is that it can be used for the soft business side of things. An article from Mashable details “5 Ways Tech Can Make New Hires Feel Like Part of the Team.”

It is important to note the relevancy factor here. 84% percent of employees plan to look for a new job this year. Clearly companies need strategies for making work an enjoyable place to be where employees feel appreciated and connected.

This guide takes a look at five areas including: virtual bulletin boards, multimedia trainings, collaboration tech, software to show the big picture, and socialization and gamification.

Citing other articles that describe the success stories of other companies makes the tips in this article more realistic.

Lawrence Coburn, CEO and founder of DoubleDutch was quoted as saying the following:

“Our HYVE application is designed to boost employee productivity and collaboration. It uses geo-location, social, gaming and analytics features to allow employees to ‘check in’ to projects, customers and locations in one interface. This knowledge allows our employees to celebrate achievements around customers and projects.”

I recommend HR departments read this article recently published on the American Express OPEN forum to gain insights into how others are implementing this elusive concept of “fun at work” and maybe it will even spur some creativity of your own.

Megan Feil, October 13, 2011

Spam free searching? Myth or miracle

October 11th, 2011 | Posted by admin in marketing | News | search engine - (0 Comments)

Inc.com is reporting in its article “Upstart search engine Blekko receives $30 million” that investors and celebrities are putting their names and their money on the line with the new “spam free” search engine, Blekko. Investors are hoping the new engine will rival the prominence of Bing and Yahoo!, it’s a big gamble and they risk losing if it doesn’t catch fire.

“Yandex, the most popular search engine in Russia, has invested $15 million and promised to share its servers and other technology. It’s the first time the Russian company has invested in a U.S. search engine. Blekko’s other $15 million comes from a group composed mostly of earlier investors: U.S Venture Partners, CMEA Capital and PivotNorth Capital. (Other notable investors: Ashton Kutcher, who kicked in $200,000 in January, and Marc Andreesen.)”

The start up is founded by Rich Skrenta, the guy responsible for the first big computer virus ever created. Dkrenta is optimistic about his endeavor despite a drop in its stock market value.

The real question is, can they deliver? If the engine can do everything that Skrenta and his investors are claiming it can do by utilizing algorithms as well as human control engineers, Google may need to watch out.

Leslie Radcliff,   October 11, 2011

AOL Makes a New Social Networking ‘Friend’

October 6th, 2011 | Posted by admin in marketing | networking | News | social media - (0 Comments)

Even though AOL is under the umbrella of Time Warner Cable, it is still a decision maker. Law.com recently reported that “AOL Buy Social Media Networking Site Bebo.”

We learned the following about AOL officials’ motivation to purchase Bebo from the article:

“Bebo allows them to offer advertisers greater reach online and give its marketer customers “significant insights” into what interests consumers. “Bebo is the perfect complement to AOL’s personal communications network and puts us in a leading position in social media,” AOL chairman and CEO Randy Falco said in a statement.”

Projections from analysts made the decision an easy one: they predict $4.1 billion will the worldwide expenses for social network ads by 2011.

Bebo, as the third largest social networking site in the U.S. and the first in Ireland and New Zealand, sees their new position under AOL as a means to grow. They hope their shared vision will allow them to “expand the online social experience globally.”

AOL bought Bebo for $850 million. Perhaps this new social media leverage will help boost AOL back to where it used to be at the beginning. AOL was a major player in the beginning of the public craze about simply connecting to the Internet. Now that the beginning of the frenzy over social networking has passed, where will they fit in?

Megan Feil, October 6, 2011

Social Media IPO’s See Varying Results; New Players Up in the Air

October 4th, 2011 | Posted by admin in Facebook | LinkedIn | marketing | News | social media - (0 Comments)

From the ITWorld article, “Air coming out of social media IPO bubble,” we learned that only time can tell if the IPO bubble will grow.

The article states the following:

“Sure, a couple of social media companies — professional social networking site LinkedIn and Internet radio company Pandora — went public last spring, with mixed results. LinkedIn shares nearly tripled in their ticker debut in May, while Pandora’s IPO one month later was a relative flop.”

Currently, there are some social media giants in the picture.

Not only have Groupon and Zynga filed for IPO’s earlier this summer, but it has been rumored that Facebook invariably will too. When these IPO’s will come to fruition and how they will do are the main questions.

According to the ITWorld article, Facebook will remain private as long as Mark Zuckerberg feels that his employees don’t need the distractions that going public would bring to the company—and their wallets. September marks that unofficial date.

Groupon on the other hand has been pushing to get their IPO off the ground, but the market stands between them and the public. Zynga has also suffered

Of course, there were a few duds in terms of social media companies that went public recently and some companies going through a rough time, but can we really assess how they will fare with the current market as a variable?

Megan Feil, October 4, 2011

TheCardLine to Go Social

August 2nd, 2011 | Posted by admin in blog | case study | marketing | News - (0 Comments)

A new information service is now available from Quasar Capital Advisors. The service provides information about prepaid credit cards. A consumer may purchase a prepaid credit card from such retailing powerhouses as Walmart or Walgreen’s. Prepaid credit cards are not new, but due to the challenging financial environment, prepaid credit cards are gaining momentum.

TheCardLine.com provides information which has not been easily available in a single information service. According to Lance Hailstorm, Quasar Capital Advisors:

We wanted to provide a single point of access for important news and information about the prepaid credit sector. We have made an attempt to pinpoint certain financial and government documents which can be difficult to locate using a traditional search and retrieval system. We also have an interest in reporting new developments and offering a critical comment about the prepaid industry. Our firm can provide financial and business advice to organizations looking to explore prepaid credit as a new revenue stream or to cost reduction initiatives.

In my conversation with Mr. Hailstorm, I learned three additional things about the new service:

  1. The company will be making public comments a part of the service. The idea is to allow an open discussion of the information presented in the service.
  2. The company will complement its RSS feed and Twitter stream with both Facebook and Google+ services in the near future.
  3. Readers contributions are invited. Submit your ideas for articles via the form available at this link.

The information for the service is provided by Augmentext.com, a services firm owned by Stephen E Arnold.